


Suppressed Howls

by MoofOfAKind



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Angst, Depressed Hop (Pokemon), Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hop & Sonia - Freeform, Hop Swears (Pokemon), Hop needs a hug, Sad Hop (Pokemon), Supportive Hop (Pokemon), bitch I wanna abandon this so badly, first fanfic pls be gentle, i don’t know how to tag, probably will add tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:21:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27414925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoofOfAKind/pseuds/MoofOfAKind
Summary: Hop and Leon had never had the best sibling relationship, but Hop never spoke of it. In fact, Hop didn't speak of a lot of his real thoughts. But that's ok, right? It's not like those thoughts would come back in a swirling storm of mental destruction, right?
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> SOOOOO this is my first fanfic on AO3 so it’s not good but hey whatever afjsfkdkfks.

"Congratualtions, Champion!" 

"Amazing, as always!"

"Can I pet your Charizard?"

"How do you do it?"

"Is your cape really 8 feet long?"

Ugh... why do I have to sit through this...

Yet another day Hop was forced to sit on the worn-down couch in his family's living room just to watch an expected victory of Leon. 

It's not a surprise... doesn't anyone want something new to happen?

Hop had reached his limit of enjoying Leon being Champion a few months ago, it was really starting to take a toll on his life.

Hop's family jumped up from their couch, all except his grandfather, who was just too old for his own good. Hop expected the poor old man to die off years ago, he looked like a dry leaf for Arceus' sake.

"Oh, Hop, isn't our Leon just incredible!" Hop's Mum exclaimed still jumping (or "hopping" if he wanted to be humorous).

At this point, Hop was an expert at giving the best fake smiles anyone had ever seen, so he did. In all honesty, he wish he could've told Dubwool to kick the TV right in the face. 

But he kept his "cool", or in reality, he was just being a sane person.

"Well, this was fun, but I think I'll head upstairs," He stood up with a squeak from the couch and stretched his half sleep legs.

"Already? But Leon is taking calls! I think you should call him," Hop's Mum put a hand over her mouth in disbelief, like she couldn't believe her son was tired at 11PM.

Hop loathed talking to Leon, let alone calling him on live television when all he wanted to do was "call"-out the Champion about his mistakes.

No, he disliked Leon, but public humiliation was too far, even for all the suffering he was forced to go through. Public humiliation would throw his whole life into chaos, which was very tempting, but not worth it.

Besides, no matter what Hop said, the crowds and audiences would most likely take the Champion's side anyways. 

He was starting to wonder if the people of Galar were wearing some sort of invisible glasses that made Leon look like Arceus itself and that he just didn't get a pair of one.

"Sorry, Mum, but I'm just really tired," Hop gave another fake smile, this time a more nervous one, as if he wanted to stay up.

His Mum shrugged her shoulders and helped his grandma sit back down.

Before walking upstairs, Hop decided to get a drink of water. Maybe it would bleach his mind of the thought of Leon before he came over yet again to celebrate yet another victory.

Will it ever get old?

Hop turned the corner and walked onto the cold, tile floor. Flicking the lights awake on his way to the fridge, he pushed a few chairs in that weren't when cleaning up dinner. Somehow Hop was raised better than his own parents.

At least Sonia said doing that was respectful? Something about not wanting someone else to accidentally trip over the chairs. 

He was easily able to reach the cupboard, as he stood at 5'10, despite only being 14. It was probably at such a short level since his mum was only 5'2, considered a midget in some places, considered average height in others.

Hop always assumed that he and his brother got their height from his non-existent father, wherever he was.

He placed the glass against a water dispenser on the outside of his fridge. First filling it with ice, the rest with warm water.

He liked it that way, cold water was always just too... cold, for him, but he also couldn't drink a glass of water without ice. The warm water and cold ice balanced it out perfectly.

Unfortunately, Hop had to pass through the living room again to reach his own room. He tired turning his head away from the TV. The sounds coming from it were tempting him, like Giratina was calling for him to turn towards the screen and watch his brother.

It'll just make you mad. 

Keep walking.

Hop managed to make it to his stairs without looking and proceeded to walk up them by two, not wanting his Mum to call him back down or stop him anytime soon.

He quickly passed down the short hallway, making sure to face away from Leon's room, and shut his door quickly.

He placed his glass on the dresser next to a Lampent themed, well, lamp that Marnie gave him and a book that he borrowed from Sonia.

Marnie and Sonia were really his only two friends that knew of his hatred for Leon. Surprisingly, they took it quite well and understood why he would feel that way.

Sonia always told Hop to just ignore his brother. Maybe it's a little hard to ignore him with his face plastered around every corner of his house, but he tried. 

Marnie on the other told him that one day she was gonna beat the man to dirt and become Champion herself, solely to prove that he wasn't as great as the world saw him. 

Hop himself just wanted to move away from Galar, but that would mean possibly never seeing his friends again. 

Not just Sonia and Marnie, but Victor, Gloria, all of the Gym Leaders of Galar, so many people he would have to say goodbye to.

Won't they all leave at some point as well though?

He slumped himself over to his bed and fell flat onto the mattress.

Hop had to head to Spikemuth tomorrow to meet up with Marnie. 

She offered to hang out with him for the day, mainly because they hadn't hung out in a long time, but also because she was going to be busy during the Gym Challenge, which was right around the corner.

The only problem was, Hop hadn't told his family yet, meaning that even though Leon was expected to visit late tomorrow, he certainly wouldn't be seeing him. 

But his family, oh his family, they would lose their marbles if Hop wasn't there. There's no way they would let him leave to see his best-friend, not as long as Leon would be visiting.

Which only left Hop with one option.

Sneak out.

———

3 AM.

A horrible time to still be awake, especially considering Hop was supposed to be up in 3 hours.

He expected his family to wake up at around 8 AM, waking up at 6 should give him enough time to quickly get ready and out the door. 

It's not suspicious to get ready at 6 AM, so if he accidentally wakes his family up, he'll have a better chance of getting out of it. 

Waking up at 6 AM means he'll leave at around 7 AM, which should give him just enough time to reach Spikemuth before 10 AM, which is when he planned to meet Marnie.

But right now, it's 3 AM, and Hop was still awake. Just lying in bed doing nothing but staring at the ceiling.

Why does sleeping have to be so HARD...

He squinted his eyes, trying to find something to focus on. Even though his phone would be perfect for the job, he didn't want to accidentally not sleep all night.

Hop turned his gaze out the window, his bed was quite close to it, giving him a large view outside. 

He stared at the night sky watching the stars twinkle and flash. Some were small, hardly able to see, and some were as bright as a Volbeat. 

Hop learned about Volbeat and Illumise from Sonia. He recalled that they didn't live in Galar, but they were still quite beautiful.

He also recalled that they were easy to find in Hoenn and Kalos. Sometimes, people who camped out at night would stay up to watch Volbeat and Illumise "shows". Hop sometimes wished that he could watch those shows as well.

But alas, he was stuck in Galar, a pity, really. Hop was soon bored and annoyed with Galar after his "adventure" through it. 

Sure, there were many cool things in Galar, especially the Pokémon, but he felt like he had already seen it all. He had all those cool Pokémon, battled all the Gym Leaders, went sightseeing nearly every single place in Galar, there was nothing to do.

The only thing left in the region that kept Hop entertained was the Slumbering Weald. Somewhere that no one should be in, but of course rules didn't stop him, he was a professional rule-breaker.

Initially, Hop too was terrified of the foggy woods, but as he returned to the place more and more often, it started to grow on him, and he quite liked the small forest.

It was home to many little Pokémon, ones like Skwovet, Rookidee, and Blipbug. Stronger Pokémon could also be found even deeper in the woods, most notably Orbeetle and Weezing. 

There was also another pink floral patterned Pokémon, but Hop didn't exactly know what it was or what it was called, he hoped to catch one at some point to find out more about it.

Amongst all of those recognizable Pokémon, lived two mysterious ones. Ones that Hop liked to believe were guardians, protectors of the Weald, and not blood-thirsty human hunters they were said to be in legends.

Although they once left Hop in an unfortunate and hazy state, if they were really the blood-thirsty hunters they were said to be, they wouldn't have left him alive.

Ever since then, he wondered if he would ever meet them again. In his mind, they were gentle and thoughtful of the Pokémon in the Weald, maybe they just weren't fond of humans.

And maybe...

Maybe Hop could change their minds.

———

Scratch that. 

This was a horrible idea.

Why did Hop think going into a foggy forest that inhabited deadly Pokémon at 3 AM was a good idea. This was not a good idea.

Which way was the exit?

He whipped his head around the woodland location, they would probably be better off calling this place "Halloweenville" or something relating to the holiday. Everywhere looked exactly the same, few trees here, some grass patches, and fog that you could barely see a few feet into.

Putting two and two together, Hop determined he was, in fact, lost.

That's just great, Halloweenville was probably one of the last places he'd want to get stuck in, let alone with legendary human hunters (or so they say).

Loooaaaarrrddd!

Oh you've gotta be pulling my leg.

A low howl shot through the air, knocking Hop out of his mini-rant. He assumed it belonged to one of the beasts that lived here, what else could it be? A lost Boltund? In the Slumbering Weald? No way. 

No Pokémon in their right mind would voluntarily enter a foggy forest in the dead of night.

Let alone a person...

Seeing as there was no other way to go (unless he wanted to stay lost), Hop decided to follow the sound. 

Even if the creatures were in-fact blood thirsty human killers, at least he wouldn't die of starvation in some out of bounds area. No, he would probably die of blood loss in some out of bounds area. 

At this point, it was either a win-lose or a lose-lose, so what does he have to lose?

As Hop continued walking deeper into the fittingly themed timberland, he noticed that there were less and less wild Pokémon appearing. 

The most recent Pokémon he saw was a Corviknight, and as strong and intimidating as they were, it seemed to be fleeing away, cowering with other small Corvsquire and Rookidee. Not to mention he saw it about five minutes ago, which was another red flag.

Maybe these beasts weren't human hunters, rather Pokémon hunters. 

No, that couldn't be true, if it was then there wouldn't be wild Pokémon making their stay here. Why stay in a place where your natural predator lives.

And as legendary as they might be, he doubted that the beasts would hunt on Corviknight and Weezing of all Pokémon, they're not exactly easy to prey on according to his Boltund.

Hooowwllll

That one was different, but more importantly, closer. Hop was close to what was possibly one of Galar's greatest mysteries- no- was Galar's biggest mystery in the history of all Galarian mysteries!

Say that five times fast.

Although it was closer, it seemed to be a little further off to the left of him, down a much slimmer path. Hop debated whether or not this was really a good idea. 

On one hand, the boy still had no idea how he was supposed to find his way out, and may never be able to if he decided to turn back.

On the other, these creatures, no matter how docile Hop might try to make them out to be, are still wild Pokémon, and he's invading their territory. What's stopping them from ripping him limb to limb?

SNAP!

Oh...

Hop whipped his head around only to be greeted by a pair of piercing yellow eyes. It belonged to a bulky Boltund-like Pokémon, the only difference being the amount of- what he assumed was- fur that grew out of it. 

The source of the sound came from the beast stepping on a small twig. Whether it was on accident or on purpose was unbeknownst to the young boy, but it was better for him to know that it was there.

CRUNCH!

Once again turning his head, Hop looked back in the original direction that he was facing only to be greeted by another beast.

So it's a pair...

This one was much slimmer, however still a large Pokémon, and it still had those eyes. It felt like they were stabbing Hop in the throat.

Thump...

Thump...

Thump...

The sound of something heavy started walking behind him. That other Pokémon must've been making its way towards Hop.

Bloody hounds

He was surrounded by the two beasts as the other one started making its way as well. They slowly started closing in on him, what was he going to do, what could he do? 

More features started to show on the mysterious creatures. They both had a fair amount of scars that patterned across their bodies.

The slimmer one was more light blue than light red and had a sort of crown like shape on the top of its head.

The bulkier one was more dark red than dark blue and had bushy hair tied into a pony tail of sorts.

The two seemed to directly parallel one another, and surely that wasn't a coincidence, they must be connected in some sort of way.

A low growl escaped the blue one's mouth as the red one grew closer. Maybe it was trying to tell the red one something like, "This is my prey! Back off!" 

The counterpart didn't respond, but started to step down harder, resulting in louder footsteps. 

And then there was Hop, stuck in the middle, awaiting to see which one would decide to take out their wishes on him. To claim him and probably eat him.

Yeah this was a really bad-

Before he could finish his thought, the two beasts sprinted from each side directly towards him. His natural instinct made Hop duck and cover his head, only for the two to meet in the middle, attacking one another. They quickly separated after one swipe from each. 

Hop shakily opened his eyes and looked to either one of them. The red one turned towards the boy as the blue one slumped over and...

It DISAPPEARED?

It just vanished into thin air after one attack, is that all these were? Illusions? Some joke? Were there ghost type Pokémon playing a trick on him?

Thump...

Those footsteps.

The beast drew closer, slowly looking more intimidating with each step it took. It seemed to grow bigger as it made its way towards Hop. 

Why couldn't he move? Why couldn't he move? Arceus, you need to get up, get up, go, GO. Hop trembled with fear and panic, refusing to move from his position.

And when it finally reached him, the young boy on the ground, pleading for life in his head, paralyzed by fear, it raised its head, opened its jaws, and stroke right at his neck. 

Hop let out a scream of agony as he felt its teeth sink into his skin. He felt the crimson liquid that lived beneath and inside of him pour out in large sums. 

His fight or flight kicked in and Hop retaliated, throwing his arm right into the Pokémon's face. It caused the creature to release his neck, and just like the other one, evaporate into thin air. 

Hop immediately took his jacket off and held it to his neck, putting as much pressure on it as possible. As far as he could feel, it seemed like it missed his carotid artery, meaning that he most likely wasn't going to bleed out. 

Well, as long as he got help that is.

He hadn't lost enough blood or felt enough pain yet to feel weak or numb, Hop took this opportunity to sprint out of the thick forest.

The fog, coincidentally or not, seemed to clear up after his encounter with the beasts, revealing a path that could lead him out.

Hop brushed by Pokémon with worrisome expressions, even a few Skwovet tried to stop him to offer him a berry. He accepted one, but didn't have the time to stop for each of the tiny creatures, which made him feel slightly guilty.

It also surprised him though to see all of these smaller Pokémon offer so much kindness to a human trainer. Have half of them ever even seen humans? 

Regardless, Hop saw the broken worn-down gate that he entered into in the first place, but then it hit him as he reached it.

Where in the bollocks do I go now?

If he went to his Mum's place, she most certainly would question why he even made a decision in the first place. Not to mention that he would also have to face Leon since his mum would surely keep a close eye on him. 

And Leon was a different story, considering the pain he was in now, Hop wouldn't be surprised if he snapped at Leon if he kept bothering him (which he would).

The only other place he could go would be the lab in Wedgehurst, but what would he even do in there? 

Surely Sonia wasn't having another late night, in fact, Hop specifically asked her not to so that she would be prepared to face Leon tomorrow. Originally it was just an inside joke, but as the day grew on, they both realized that she should probably take that joke seriously.

Though there was a first aid kit in there, which could hold off the bleeding until he got professional help. Hop was running out of time regardless as more of his clothing was being stained red.

He decided on his own to hightail it to the lab and hope he could make it before giving in to the pain.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hop accidentally stumbles upon Sonia awake in the dead of night which leads to an unexpected conversation between both the two and a third.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UM HELLO YOU GUYS LIKED THIS WHY OK THANK YOU????  
> Unfortunately, I don’t really have a schedule. I just write when I feel like it afjksgnsn. But the kudos do mean a lot and inspire me to keep going, so thank you for those! :D

It was late.

Maybe a little too late.

I should go to bed...

Drowsy thoughts annoyed the young woman in a lab coat as she tried to finish up some work that she and her lab partner were working on.

Hop had asked me to sleep early tonight...

Sonia rubbed her temples as she tried to continue her work through distracted thoughts, but it was hopeless. She felt guilty for not listening to Hop, but more importantly, was going to regret being deadly tired when Leon came around.

Leon was something else to Sonia, everyone knew him to be the great Champion of Galar, but the new professor had known him since they were young-ins. 

But when everyone realized Leon was a natural and Sonia wasn't, they crowded around and behind the purple haired boy, leaving her in the dust, only to drop out of the Gym Challenge soon after. 

It humored her in a sense, mostly because of how different it was from Hop. 

Hop, in her eyes, was also a natural at battling, and he was one strong trainer. Even when the younger sibling hit his second lowest of lows, he trudged on and continued through the challenge. 

Once he reached the semi-finals though, something happened. He ended up losing to Gloria, one of the twins from Postwick and Hop's next door neighbor.

That was Hop's lowest of lows. He completely gave up on battling and started isolating himself from other people once it was all said and done. 

About a week after Gloria had lost to the bright Champion, that's when she, along Sonia with a few other close friends of Hop, grew slightly worrisome for him.

And it seems like it's still that way now. Even though Hop explained that he would start working under Sonia and would even prefer that over battling, it's still easy to see those looks of self-doubt, battling or not.

Which caused Sonia to act a little motherly towards him, if his own parents and family wouldn't, who else was fit for the role? But Hop never viewed it that way to her knowledge, which she was glad of. It was more of that younger brother - older sister type relationship, and they mutually agreed they liked it that way.

Luckily, Hop's other friends, like Gloria, Victor, and Marnie, were closely the same way, just more loose and wanted him to have more fun than to worry about fixing problems of his own. It was good to see him take a breather with them.

But even through all of that, all of Hop's troubles and how much people looked up to him for being such a powerful trainer, he still stuck with his friends, and they stuck with him.

So how can those two be brothers?

Heh, how can they be related at all.

Sonia knew it was never Leon's intentions to leave everyone behind in place of the League and the Chairman, but it affected people that way.

Which made her ponder how his mum and grandparents still loved him more than the younger one. 

The favoritism between the two was incredibly obvious to anyone who even stepped in their home. In fact, unless they mentioned it, Sonia doubted that people would even know that Hop existed. 

And there she goes again, her thoughts, scrambled into a smorgasbord. All about Leon and Hop and all this confusing business between them, it worried the young professor.

But her worries only just begun as a figure barged open the door to the lab, not even knocking or worrying if someone was working in there beforehand.

Well, I guess you don't expect someone to be working at 3 AM

Yamper jumped up from Sonia's lap where she was sitting and sprinted as fast as her little legs could carry her, barking what was probably a threat towards the unidentified person.

Once she reached the figure, Sonia heard their voice loud and clear, and it at first stunned her.

"Oi, buzz off ya mutt," they spoke in a harsh tone.

Sonia was certain that Yamper wasn't actually respecting the person's request, but rather realized alongside her trainer who it was, and it wasn't alarming.

"Hop?" Sonia stood up from her desk, worried why she was seeing her protégé during late hours.

It didn't help that he was obviously frustrated or at least not happy. The way he spoke to Yamper wasn't his usual cheerful greeting to the small Pokémon but rather a spiteful, threat-like statement.

"Sonia? Why are you- agh, nevermind," Hop started jogging towards the far corner of the room, "I need to borrow your first-aid kit." 

Sonia cocked an eye.

"Firstly, it's our first-aid kit since you also work here, and secondly, why do you need to borrow it?" She started to approach the young former trainer.

"Because I did something stupid, okay?!" Hop angrily spat and whipped his entire body around, finally revealing the inflicted area that he needed to be taken care of.

Sonia gave a quick gasp and rushed to his side.

"Let me help you, okay?" She nearly begged Hop, worried for his health.

He calmly nodded, seemingly relaxed from his quick reaction. 

The young professor took him over to her desk chair and sat him down in it before shuffling through the first-aid kit. 

Sonia took a moment to actually look at the wound, and it was bad. Hop was lucky that he even made it here, even if he was only as far as Route 2. 

She asked him to take his jacket off so she could see the area better. Luckily, he was wearing a tank top instead of his usual sports tee, which made it much easier.

The wound spread from a little above his jawline and traced down to the edge of his shoulder blade. But it didn't look like a scar of sorts, rather a bite mark that ripped down his skin. 

Sonia decided against questioning it for the time being as she was sure Hop didn't want to bring it up quite yet. 

He said he "did something stupid," which meant he was probably ashamed of it and didn't want to get into trouble about it knowing full well that he would.

For Arceus' sake, the poor boy was shaking underneath her, probably on the brink of tears. And she was certain it wasn't from the pain (though it must've hurt to be tampering with it).

Sonia tugged the end of the bandage and pushed it down not too hard, but just enough to get it to stay. She began packing up the rest of the unused supplies and putting the kit back where it belonged.

"Gonna start bombarding me with questions now?" Hop hinted a joke, moving his arm slightly to get used to the large gauze. 

Sonia smiled a little, glad to know that at least a small bit of Hop's charming personality was breathing life into him once more.

"I think I'll lay off until you're feeling better," Sonia turned around and went back to where she was working.

"That doesn't seem fair," Hop leaned back in the swivel seat, being cautious as to not fall back.

His statement inquired Sonia.

"And why's that?"

"You just spent all that time takin' care of me and you don't even want me to repay you or somethin'." 

He was mumbling half of his sentences, obviously tired, but mostly from him feeling guilty.

"You can repay me by taking care of yourself while it heals."

There was a slight pause between the two.

"Think it'll scar?"

"Depends on how deep it is. I just cleaned it out and wrapped it up to stop the bleeding and to keep it stable."

There was only a small hum in response.

"'m sorry."

Sonia's pencil dropped dead on her paper as she stood up slowly and turned towards her lab partner, mixed emotions spread into her eyes.

Hop immediately straightened his body, worried about what sort of event he just triggered and how it was going to end for him.

"Hop..." Sonia reached the edge of the desk and leaned her hands on each side of it.

"Sonia..." he drew back his hand that was previously on the desk, retreating it under the table.

"Don't ever apologize for something like this ever again, you got that?"

Hop swallowed the taste of guilt away from his throat and nodded in understanding, but they both knew full well it would happen again. Soon after he nodded a cocky look soon replaced his face.

"Then you have to go to bed," he smiled and crossed his arms, leaning back in the chair once more.

Sonia scoffed and relaxed her face before proceeding to shake it.

"I'm not gonna take advice from a fourteen year old," she started to take her lab coat off.

"It's not really advice, just a recommendation," Hop fidgeted with a pen left out on the desk.

"Same thing."

Hop snickered under his breath at that.

"If anyone here needs some rest, it's you," Sonia placed her coat on the back of her chair.

"Can't," Hop did a 180° turn in the chair and found himself facing outside the window, looking at the stars.

"And why's that my protégé?" She spoke the last word in a semi-Kalosian accent.

"'Cause if I go to sleep now, I might not wake up for a long time."

Sonia knew of Hop's plans to visit Spikemuth in the following hours. He had told her a few days ago so that she wouldn't freak out alongside his parents and try to find him. 

In fact, Sonia even said that she'd cover for Hop, telling his family that she had an urgent assignment he needed to go to the Wild Area to complete.

Hop was ecstatic and truly appreciated how nice and helpful Sonia was, she was glad to see him all jumpy.

"Why don't you just tell Marnie you can't go?" Sonia leaned over her chair to close down some of the applications she was using for work.

"She'll pressure me for answers and won't stop worrying if I never tell her," the young boy turned around once more and rested his head on top of his arms.

"You think it'll be any better to show up with an obnoxiously large bandage around your arm?" And gave a slight chuckle.

"Can't we hide it?"

"With what exactly?"

"I- well- I guess we can't, huh?"

Sonia paused for a moment, Hop knew full well that they wouldn't be able to cover that.

"You wanna be away from home when Leon comes, don't you?"

She didn't need to turn back to know Hop was showing some form of agreement to her statement.

"Then why don't we bring you over to Spikemuth right now?" 

"Marnie's asleep, don't wanna bother her."

"Right, Mr. I-almost-passed-out-from-blood-loss."

Hop gave a disapproving grunt, not a huge fan of his new nickname.

Bzzzt!

Hop and Sonia exchanged glances as the younger one took his rotom phone out of his pocket. It was a notification, a message, from none other than the said person from Spikemuth.

"It's Marnie," Hop stated flatly before returning his gaze to the professor.

"What's it say?" Sonia placed her hands on her hips and leaned on her right leg.

Hop read it himself before announcing it out loud,

"Hope your notifs are off lol."

He explained that there was also a video attached to it.

Sonia approached his side and loomed her head over his shoulder to watch the video with him.

The video was very dark, the only lighting being the phone's flashlight itself. It showed Marnie's Morpeko at the windowsill making chirping noises below. The film continued on and showed Marnie slowly getting up from her bed and stalking behind the Pokémon. To the viewers' surprise, her Morpeko in question turned out to be talking to a Zigzagoon shaped pile of waste. Marnie gave a whispered laugh behind the camera that surprised her Pokémon, only for the video to end shortly after.

Hop gave his own quiet laugh besides Sonia and decided to respond without thinking.

-Did you feed her something?

The "her" Hop was referring to was Marnie's Morpeko. 

"You dork," Sonia ruffled his hair, "Now wouldn't be a bad time yknow..."

"Relax," Hop shrugged her off his shoulder and spun the chair away, "I'll ask her once we get a conversation going."

Sonia rolled her eyes, "Neither of you will be able to sleep by then."

"Is than an insult?"

"You tell me."

Bzzzt!

Marnie had responded after a short moment as Hop looked back. 

Sonia decided to leave him be for awhile and to try and get Yamper to relax until then. The boy's arrival had worked her up and she needed to let some energy out through playtime.

Hop on the other hand, had already started a good text rhythm with Marnie.

-Oh, so your notifs were on.

-Actually, I just so happened to be awake.

-Bold choice to stay up late the one night you needed to get up early.

-Says you

-I don't have to get up for nothin'

Hop could hear the sass from that comment.

-You won't be preparing anything for me??? <:(

-It's already prepared enough you dummy. I did it earlier today

-Being proactive now, are we?

-You should learn from me.

Hop glanced over to Sonia for a moment before returning to his conversation. 

Now would be a good time...

-So, hey, are you like, super duper tired?

-Lay it on me.

-Some, things, are going on... Sonia suggested that I should come to Spikemuth earlier.

-And earlier is when?

-Now?

-Ok.

"Ok?" Hop whispered under his breath.

"Hm?" Sonia looked over

"Oh, nothing," Hop waved her off, forgetting that she was there in the first place.

-Ok?

-Yeah, you can come over anytime.

-What about Piers?

-He won't mind after I tell him. Besides, he likes you lol 

Hop smiled, glad that Piers was more than approving of him.

-Are you sure?

-Hop.

-Okok fiiine.

Surely the Corvicab services would be down for now. They had a small downtime between 2AM and 5AM tonight. They keep a schedule to allow their Corviknight to rest, only waking if there was an emergency.

So the only other way to get there was...

"Heyyy, Sonia?" Hop put his phone on sleep for a moment to talk to the professor.

"Yes sir?" Sonia picked up her small companion and gave Hop and knowing smile.

"Can you... lend me your car?" Hop gave sheepish smile.

Sonia rolled her eyes, "I'm not gonna let you break the law because you care about my sleep."

"Actually I wanted to see how long I'd last," Hop quickly texted Marnie to tell her he was on the way before shoving the device in his pocket.

"Again, not gonna happen. Even if it was legal and I totally trusted you, your arm is still injured," The professor jingled her keys and approached the door. 

"It's really not that bad," the young boy followed after her.

"You say that," she rubbed his back once he reached her.

"I'm serious!"

"Same here!"

Both gave dramatic pouty faces to one another before bursting out in laughter.

"In all seriousness," Sonia caught her breath, "Take care of it, okay? And let me check up on it from time to time."

Hop stopped his laughing fit, "Of course I will."

"Then we should get going," she smiled and gave him a quick hug before walking out the door.

The smaller boy nodded and followed suit.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hop stays over at Marnie and Piers’ and things get a little out of control.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: there is implications that Hop is bisexual and Marnie is lesbian but these will NOT become a consistent mentioning throughout the story. It is incredibly irrelevant to the story, I only added it because I wanted to clear up what would be a rather awkward sleepover. Besides that I’m sorry this took so long, but I hope you like it anyways! :)

"Hop, you barmy git!"

Marnie nearly tackled Hop with a hug, but was definitely avoiding the clearly noticeable wrapping around his arm.

Sonia came around from the other side of the car and leaned on it, giving Hop the "oh yeah you messed up" look. The young protégé responded by sticking his tongue out. 

Marnie pulled away from Hop with a pouty, angry expression.

"Ya should've told me you were hurt! I could've gotten you somethin'!" She threw her arms out to her sides for added emphasis.

The ladder gave a nervous chuckle in return, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Yeesh! I didn't know you were gonna nag my ear off, or else I would've said something."

"You should've known," Marnie stomped her foot and held her head in the air.

Many people would know Marnie to be the quiet, shy girl from the unusually loud dome-shaped city, but between her and Hop, she was completely different.

The two had first met at the Budew Drop Inn. Hotel in Motostoke, back during their Gym Challenge. Marnie had told off a group of fanboys and fangirls that were antagonizing the other challengers, including Hop and his neighbor. 

For awhile since then, the two would make small conversations on their way to certain gyms or while training, coincidentally running into one another of course. 

But eventually, it became less of a coincidence and more of a rhythm. Hop usually got his challenge done first, so he would often wait outside near the edge of town or even directly in front of the stadium for Marnie. 

He always had something he wanted to talk about, not that Marnie was complaining. She found the other boy cheerful and one of the few people that she could call a friend.

After the Gym Challenge had ended, it was confusing for the two. Should they still be friends? Was their relationship a temporary one? Should they pretend to be complete and total strangers?

The raven-haired girl lived miles away from Hop, how could they even see each other?

When the time came for them to accidentally bump into each other in Hammerlocke, that seemed like a good time to discuss things. Neither of them wanted to stop being friends, but neither of them knew what to do. The simplest solution at the time was to exchange numbers, to which they did.

Continuing on after that, they slowly talked more and more and even made plans to sneak out and go to parties with Gloria and Victor (and sometimes Bede). They would talk for hours a night and go on and on about the struggles of real life.

It made them realize that sometimes you can't plan for things to happen, sometimes you just have to let things unfold for themselves.

Marnie became a good shoulder for Hop to lean on and vice versa.

"What would you have gotten me anyways?" Hop crossed his arms and cocked an eyebrow.

"Would've stolen a plush from the night market," she winked.

"You've already stolen every single one and given them to me."

"Actually," Marnie leaned in and nearly whispered to Hop excitedly, "They added a new one just yesterday. Heard it's a 'goon [zigzagoon]."

Sonia noticed their voices get quieter as a friendly suspicion rose in her throat.

"Hey, if you're planning on doing crimes, at least do it when Hop isn't disabled," she gave the two attentive rivals a smirk.

"Ah, true, we shouln't," Marnie seemed lightly poke Hop's arm, he responded by pulling it away.

"It's nothing, we can still do crimes!" The other one proudly declared.

"Please don't do crimes tonight," a lanky figure emerged from the shadowed city.

It was Marnie's older brother and the former gym leader of Spikemuth, Piers. He crossed his arms and yawned tiredly, leaning on the side of the open shutter door.

The tall guy never seemed to show any other emotion besides tiredness, unless he was battling, if that was the case he was always worked up. Sometimes he would even spill his strategy mid battle. 

Hop dipped his head and dropped his uninjured arm as he groaned an "ok".

Marnie rolled her eyes and walked over to the side of her older sibling.

"You oughta be tired," she pulled her hands behind her back. 

"Erm... a little," Hop gave a nervous smiled and rested his healthy limb behind his head.

"Then you should head inside," Sonia walked up behind him.

"Agreed," Piers flatly stated before walking towards the oddly quiet city. It always seemed almost lifeless at night. Marnie smiled before turning around to follow her brother.

On the other hand, the other duo exchanged smiles before Sonia crushed Hop in a hug, avoiding the hurt arm. The younger one protested before giving in to the offer and returned the hug as best as he could.

The professor ruffled her protégé's hair for the final time that night before getting in her car and driving off, waving out the window as she left. 

The purple-haired boy turned to his friend who was waiting for him outside the city's rolling shutter door. He made his way over and followed her inside as she shut the entrance behind them.

— — — 

Marnie offered for Hop to sleep on a blowup mattress in her bedroom, which to most people would seem exceedingly awkward, but the two had it sorted out. The purple-haired boy knew Marnie's taste was solely for women, and although he was bisexual, he already had eyes on a different familiar person.

Hop accepted the offer but double-checked to make sure she was okay with it, to which the younger responded with a sarcastic "no".

He shrugged and lazily walked into the bathroom to get ready for the night as the other prepared his bed.

"So how'd you get hurt anyways?" Marnie turned towards the direction of the bathroom, placing a pillow on the blow up mattress.

"I-"

Oh no. This was the question that Hop was planning to avoid all night. 

"I- I don't think it's important, I'm just tired is all," He gave a fake yawn while trying to dodge the question.

"Uh huh," Marnie sat on her bed, "You're not getting away with this one."

Hop spat into the sink and washed his (well, really a spare) toothbrush off, getting used to the slight minty taste that was in his mouth. 

The raven-haired girl watched as he stalked into the room, giving an actual yawn this time.

She sighed, "Y'don't hafta tell me right now, but I know it ain't somethin' small." 

"I'm being honest when I say it's not important, mate. It just happened." The older one plopped down onto the mattress.

"Y'think I'd believe that? It ain't like ya to just," Marnie fumbled to find words, "To just get hurt like that, let alone at a time like this."

"So maybe I did something dumb, it's not out of the ordinary for me to make a dumb decision, yeah?" 

"It's not out of the ordinary, but ya never do it without a good reason."

The pair sat in silence for a few moments.

"Let's-"

"We can-"

Oh.

"You go-"

"You can-"

They blankly stared at one another before snickering.

"Let's talk about this in the morning, 'k?" Marnie gave a reassuring look.

Hop didn't plan on nor wanted to talk about the situation or cause at all, but with her around, it was unavoidable.

He nodded, "Then, goodnight?"

She smiled, "Did you plan on something else happening?"

"Nah, goodnight," He flopped over onto his uninjured arm, it would be an uncomfortable sleep tonight.

"Goodnight, you pillock," The girl turned her own Lampent themed lamp off.

She heard the other scoff at the nickname, but chuckle nonetheless.

———

"Ughhh..." 

Marnie woke up to the sound of an annoyed, tired friend in her room. 

Guess he woke up on the wrong side of the bed... or did he sleep at all?

She opened her eyes, not expecting any sunlight to greet them. The girl considered it a benefit to living in the dusky city, but she did sometimes wish she could wake up to it more often. The only time she ever did was visiting big city places for her Gym Challenge.

Hop must feel the sunlight on him every morning, Marnie sometimes envied that. Not to say she'd rather live out in the country than what she's in now. 

Spikemuth isn't as bad as it looks on the outside. Once you get to know the people here, they're actually quite nice and reliable. Team Yell never really gave off that sort of vibe, so it's hard for outsiders to believe such a claim, but Marnie knew better than people who never gave them a chance.

"Mmm..." 

Another groan and a shift took her out of thought. The noise sounded more strained this time.

She took the chance to flip over on her bed so she would face the annoyed acquaintance. Unfortunately, he was turned away from her.

"Hop."

Marnie's croaky voice interrupted the said person's complaints as he picked his head up and faced her.

As she suspected, evident of the tired, baggy eyes, Hop hadn't slept a slim of an hour last night. It was either because of that bandage or because of something else he wasn't telling her.

"Is it morning already?" 

His voice matched Marnie's.

"It was morning when you got here."

Hop flopped his head down as the other reached over for her phone. She turned it on and it stung her eyes for a moment.

"It's two in the afternoon."

"TWO IN THE AFTERNOON?" 

The boy shouted and sprung up from the mattress, nearly toppling into a shelf while doing so. He quickly rushed out of the room and shut the bathroom door, most likely about to get ready for the (half) day.

Marnie wasn't nearly half as confused as Piers was leaning on the top of the stairwell. He slowly made his way over to the stretching girl.

"What's his deal," his lanky body leaned on her doorway. Marnie was nearly certain that he couldn't stand upright without leaning on something.

"Probably worried 'bout work or somethin'," her words were slurred.

"He ain't going, is he?" 

Piers usually didn't show concern to anyone, but was unusually soft sometimes to Hop. Of course it was nothing compared to how he acted towards his little sister, but they both knew he liked the jumpy kid.

"Not 'nless he wants to tell me what's actually goin' on," Marnie stood up for the first time in the afternoon. 

"What do you think is going on?" He turned towards the door, listening to the audio cues for what was going on. Hop must've been in the shower since there was a heavy amount of running water.

"Prolly messed with the wrong kind of 'mon, but he wouldn't hide something like that."

"Then maybe that ain't it."

"Can your head rock anything else?"

Piers shrugged in response as they sat in a content silence.

"So you want to interrogate him?"

"Obviously."

———

“Hop.”

“Marnie? Piers?”

Hop had just walked his way into the small kitchen, carefully trying to maneuver his jacket around his injured arm.

The other two in the room were sitting at the table, the taller one looking outside the window, which was odd considering they weren’t even able to see that outside world. Marnie was rather content, but obviously wanted to talk about something serious.

“Is there a problem,” he inquired the two.

“Remember what we were talking about last night?” The young girl propped her head up on the palm of her hand.

“Oh.”

Hop stopped his movement before glancing at the seat on the other side of the table. Marnie nodded towards him as he sat down.

“Do you... want, to talk about it?” Her other hand ventured toward her jacket and fiddled with it.

“Generally, no,” the ladder shrugged.

“That sucks, you’re gonna hafta spit it up anyways,” Piers cut in to their conversation.

Hop sighed, “I don’t know what was going through my head, but I guess I kinda sorta went into this off-limits, spooky, foggy forest and may have ran into a spooky, deadly... thing... while I was there... maybe two...”

His voice got quieter as he went on to the point where Marnie wasn’t sure whether or not she heard the last part correctly.

“Two?”

“I think?”

“You think?”

“It’s... complicated...”

Marnie sighed, “Do you have brain damage or something?”

“No, I mean like-”

“Can we just establish that going into a spooky, foggy forest at three in the morning was possibly one of the worst decisions you’ve ever made?” Piers sounded almost angry with the culprit.

“And it was off-limits,” Marnie added.

“And it was off-limits.”

Two against one, how unfair was this.

“Okay, yes, it was,” Hop huffed, “but about the beasts I just, I just don’t think they were real.”

“Then how else do you explain the obnoxiously large bandage on your arm, unless it’s for the attention?” The former gym leader gave him a dirty look.

“Piers you can look at it yourself if you want.”

“Someone is gonna hafta replace it later.”

“So be it.”

Marnie cocked an eyebrow, “Why do you think they weren’t real?”

“Well ok, if I remember correctly, they were fighting each other, but as soon as one of them got hurt, they would just disappear, like into thin air! The same thing happened when I punched it.”

Piers and Marnie went wide eyed at the same time.

“You PUNCHED IT?” They shouted in perfect sync. 

“It ATTACKED ME!” Hop shouted back with the same volume.

“I get that, yeah, but you HIT that thing?” Piers was standing up at this point.

“Not to mention you actually HURT it!” Marnie was nearly smiling in astonishment.

“I can’t tell if you’re mad or impressed,” Hop gave a nervous smile.

“Both, mad because you’d do something like that, but impressed that you succeeded in doing something like that,” Piers winked at him.

The two sat back down as the other fiddled with his coat.

“Is that all you know?” The young girl asked.

“Unfortunately...” 

They all agreed silently that the conversation was over, but far from being their last one on the topic.

———

"OW."

"It won't hurt if ya stop fidgeting."

"It's a reflex!"

"Do you want this to go on your medical record?"

Hop held his breath.

"OUCH- OKAY-"

Piers hands froze.

"'Okay' what?"

"'Okay' just stop for a moment!"

"Nope."

Another rip.

"ARCEUS-"

Marnie sat outside of her apartment, waiting for a certain professor to arrive. Inside was single handedly one of the most unprofessional procedures going on.

"Just hold still!"

"I can't!"

"Yes, you can!"

"I really can't Piers just- ACK-"

He must've ripped it again.

Marnie trusted her brother with her life and then some, but something about just listening to what was going on inside made her feel uneasy. Maybe it wasn't Piers, maybe it was Hop in pain that made her feel so uncomfortable.

"Being kicked in the bollocks would feel better than this."

"I can assure you it wouldn't."

"Maybe you're just too cack-handed."

"I'm HELPING you!"

"Can't you do it any easier?"

"I'm trying to do it as easy as possible."

"Then don't just rip it off without my cons- BLOODY-"

Marnie pulled out her phone to try and distract her, but it wasn't needed as a figure stepped in front of her.

"Do I want to know what's going on in there?"

Sonia cocked her head at the door, tapping her finger on her chin.

"Prolly not," Marnie stood up and brushed her skirt off.

"Piers watch it- PIERS."

"For real, stop squirming!"

"This is the worst thing I've ever experienced."

"What about that huge deadly beast you fought?"

"There was an upside to that!"

"And that was?"

"Bragging rights."

"How humble of you."

"It's not like I go around mentioning that I saved Galar to every person I meet."

"Uh huh."

"I'm just saying that- ACK-"

Sonia grimaced.

"You guys really should've waited for me to get here," she stuffed her hands in the pockets of her lab coat.

"Hop insisted on it."

"Hop also insisted on getting hurt in the first place."

"So you think he was the one to instigate it." 

"It was three in the morning, what else was he supposed to be doing at three in the morning other than sleep."

"Fair 'nough."

Marnie huffed as the inside stayed unusually silent. The two girls traded glances. 

They were about to enter the apartment until they were unpleasantly surprised by it being swung open.

Hop bursted between them nearly smashing the door into Marnie’s face, quickly snapping back around and skidding his shoes.

“HE’S TRYING TO KILL ME!”

Without any context, it would seem that way, as Piers stalked over to the opening holding a kitchen knife. 

“You’re overreacting.”

“YOU’RE HOLDING A KNIFE. NOT EVEN SCISSORS JUST A KITCHEN KNIFE. DO YOU NOT OWN SCISSORS IN YOUR HOME?” Hop could care less about his boss and best friend being alongside his supposed attacker.

“It works the same, plus I have more experience with knives.”

“YOU WHAT.” 

The bandages alongside the younger’s arm were torn and scattered. They were clearly cut with little warning, which caused the initial wound to be partially opened again. Figures why he was making painful noises.

“I told you I wasn’t going to be good at this.”

“I didn’t think that meant you had no idea what you were doing?”

“Maybe you should’ve waited for the more qualified individual to get here,” Piers looked over to the still startled professor.

Hop followed his gaze, “Sonia! I didn’t know you were here!” He gave a weak smile in attempt to cover up whatever pain that was in his arm.

Sonia sighed, “Of course you didn’t, but for once, I can agree with Piers.”

“I just didn’t want to trouble you,” the teenager kicked at nothing on the ground.

“What’s troubling is you thinking I wouldn’t want to help,” she approached him.

The other two kept busy trying to put the door back in, obviously this wasn’t the first time someone busted it, which wasn’t surprising.

“Can I at least see it?” Sonia smiled at him jokingly.

He sighed and turned his arm so she could see it.

The bleeding had mostly stopped, but the wound actually looked worse than before, and it wasn’t from Piers meddling with it. 

“I’m going to touch it, okay? Let me know it hurts?” She spoke calmly.

Hop gave a nod in approval and braced himself.

Sonia pressed gently underneath the wound, but almost immediately drew back out of shock. She hadn’t even reached the inflicted area and the surrounding area felt like it was on fire.

“Is it hot?” 

That was a dumb question.

“Burning,” he responded weakly.

“You should’ve told me earlier.”

She was growing more concerned.

“I-”

“Don’t.”

The professor knew exactly what Hop wanted to say, that he didn’t want to worry her or be a nuisance, but he wasn’t the case at all.

“Is it getting hotter?” 

“N-No... I’ve grown used to it.”

You don’t usually “grow used to” a burn, but she had to keep in mind it wasn’t a burn, but something else entirely.

“Is the wound hot?”

“It’s freezing.”

That’s quite the contrast, but it would explain how he’s been able to bare it. 

“I-I don’t understand it either,” the younger boy reassured Sonia.

“That’s ok, we’ll work through it together,” she withdrew her hand and looked at Hop with determined eyes and a smile. 

Usually it was the other way around when the purple haired boy was trying to cheer her up, but it was Sonia’s turn to be his shoulder, and she would gladly accept it.

Hop smiled and lazily hugged the professor with his healthy arm.

“Let’s go inside and get this wrapped up properly, ok?” 

He nodded and followed her inside.


End file.
